ALBERTOPOLIS/ˌælbətˈɒpəlɪs/
A group of cultural sites in South Kensington, London.
These include the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music, Imperial College and the Royal Albert Hall. Following the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which made a substantial profit, Prince Albert proposed that land should be bought to continue the Exhibition’s aims and to extend “the influence of Science and Art upon Productive Industry” by building museums, colleges, schools, concert halls, and premises for learned societies. In 1852 eighty acres of farmland were bought by the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition (who still exist), but most of the scheme was completed long after Prince Albert’s untimely death in 1861. The term Albertopolis seems to have been invented in the 1850s, but quickly vanished again and reappeared only as the result of an unsuccessful proposal earlier this decade to extend Albert’s vision. But at least the Albert Memorial has now been restored and his gaudy gold-leafed gaze now looks out to his posthumous creation once more after years behind scaffolding. The area is also sometimes known as Coleville, after Sir Henry Cole, the art expert and administrator who implemented much of Albert’s plan and who became the first director of the V&A.
Last updated 24 Oct 1998
